The Traveler: Ruins of Civilization
by Lyno12
Summary: A visitor comes from unknown origins and changes the gang's path through the world of the Avatar. He is actually a character from the Avatar Universe (using a different name for the time being). Starts during the war, but is (going to be) set after the war. Slight shipping betwixt characters.
1. Chapter 1

**Regular disclaimer: I DO NOT own avatar in any way. Oh and also all that other stuff that might get me sued too.**

The Traveler:

I did not know how far I had gone from the fire nation, but I did know they were still in pursuit of me. I realized I only had little time, money and resources and decided not to stop escaping for the night. The tiny Earth kingdom village had provided me some shelter during this thunderstorm, but I continued on after only staying there for two hours. What I held in my hand was a book that nobody could see and what I held in my head was knowledge that nobody could know. I knew I had to reach them in time as the rain camouflaged my tears streaming down my face.

Aang, the Avatar:

"Come on Sokka! Wake up! We have a lot do to today."

"Just gimme a few minutes…"

This happened every day and was a regular ordeal between us now. I had always found a way to get him out of his sleeping bag and awake, but the thunderstorm last night had kept us all awake, so I couldn't blame him. Toph, strangely enough was still asleep, even though she sleep through the entire thunderstorm like a rock. Well, she was an Earthbender after all.

"Aang, maybe you should take a break from training today." said Katara. She always nice to me…and I kinda had a big crush on her so I tended to listen to her a lot. "After all, there is such a thing as over training."

"Yeah" I agreed. "But I have to get all the elements mastered before Sozin's Comet arrives! We haven't really got a lot of time to kick back and relax."

"Come on, what if we just went to gather supplies in the next town over for a few hours? After all, we are running low on food and I don't feel like hunting all the time like my brother over there." She pointed to Sokka, who was still sound asleep with his mouth wide open. "Please?"

At this chance, I could not resist. A few hours alone with Katara was too big of an opportunity for me to miss.

"Ok." I said, finally giving in to relaxing. We started to head into town after leaving a note for the rest of the gang so they wouldn't worry so much. One could still see the damage left from the thunderstorm, as portrayed all around us. We were lucky that trees didn't fall on our campsite last night.

"You! Halt there!" A voice rang out from down the path, and a little muffled too, so I assumed it came from under a fire nation soldier's helmet. Katara assumed the same; that the voice came from a fire nation soldier and we both prepared us mentally and physically for a battle. True enough, a small group of firebenders appeared in front of us.

"Hey you. Have you seen this b—" he was about to show us a picture of whatever he was searching for but then recognized me as the Avatar. He stood seeming astonished for a split second but then came out of his shock. "Abandon the other mission men! This one is the Avatar! His head is worth scores more!" The leader shouted orders of attack at his men at this moment but they had already lost. Katara already had out her water whip and was dealing with five of them leaving me with the rest.

Piece of cake.

I launched an air blast at the four rushing me from the left and froze the feet of three running over a puddle leaving the rest of my attention to the ones in the middle. One was brandishing a spear and the three surrounding him had their hands out ready to launch a volley of fire balls at me.

They came pretty slowly and I leaped over them with such ease as to mock them. I laughed which made one of the three so angry as to start his barrage of fire. The fire balls launched at me were easily blown out by airbending and the air blast continued to hit the rest of the men. Wait…something was off…weren't there four of them?

"AANG!" I heard Katara's shout before it hit me. The guys with the spear had snuck around me and had thrown it at my back. I turned around to see the spear just inches from me. There was not time to react, so prepared for pain as I tried to deflect the spear with only my bare hands. But suddenly a wall of earth sprung up in front of me. I turned around for a second time to see Toph and Sokka standing behind me. I smiled to see that the two had my back.

"Thought you two could sneak away without me noticing, huh, Twinkletoes?" she said

"Thanks for the save, Toph. I should have been more careful, but I'm glad you got my back."

"Don't get too used to it Twinkletoes. Earthbenders have to face their own problems most of the time."

And for the second time that day, I didn't mind that nickname in the least.

The Traveler:

"Hey kid, are you gonna buy any actual food, or are you just gonna keep drink distilled cactus juice?"

Ugh. The waitress was becoming more annoying every time she visited my table. Again.

"I told you. I barely have enough money for the juice itself."

"Well if you need money, you can work of a meal in the back or sell that fancy book you have there." She pointed to my book on the table next to my glass of juice. "Never seen anything like it…" her voice trailed off.

Not the book…Never the book. "The book's not for sale." I said. "And I have no time to work a few days for you. I have to keep traveling."

"Jeez, kid, you win. Just hurry it up. We got other customers to you know." Then mumbling to herself, "What kind of kid drinks cactus juice, let alone this early in the morning?"

"Thank you. I knew you'd see my way ev—" I stopped as I saw the next group of customers walk in the door. "You know, I think I'll leave now. _Here'sthemoneythankyouagain_." Oh god why her? Of all people WHY HER? She was alongside that Fire Nation Princess (what was her name? Oh right…Azula) and that other girl who was indifferent all the time.

"I just sayin' if we actually looked in nature more we'd find them faster." She said

"For the last time Ty Lee, we are not looking for the Avatar; we are trying to take over the Earth kingdom. Besides. Nature really isn't my style." Azula eyed her finger nails and exclaimed disgust at her disguise. "Ughh. The Earth kingdom has a really bad fashion sense. When we take over I'm going to change that sooo fast."

"I'm hungry. Let's just eat now." Said that indifferent girl.

"I agree with Mai, Azula. I'm hungry too."

I asked the bartender where the back entrance was and he showed me it very quickly.

"One of those girls used to be your girlfriend, son?" He pointed toward the three girls waiting to be seated.

"S-something like th-that." I stammered. I hadn't realized how nervous I would be when I saw them. Then she noticed me and her faced lit up for a second and then fell. Without her comrades noticing she waved slightly and moved her hand across her neck while pointing toward them, signaling for me to leave very quickly. I nodded and hid behind the bar.

"Ah I can see which one now." said the bartender, taking notice of the whole silent conversation. "You wouldn't believe how many of you young kids I do this to." He, like all other good bartenders had a secret exit under his bar, through which I made my escape. How clich_é. I thanked the bartender and gave him the last of my money as a tip. Escaping the fire nation soldiers had seemed like a breeze compared to escaping those three. And trust me I didn't want to do it again._

Toph Bei Fong_:_

"So that's the last of them." Sokka had done a nice job of tying up all of the fire nation soldiers. "Let's head into town now…What were we doing again?"

Katara and I let out an exasperated sigh at the same time and I punched him in the arm as I said "to get food, Snoozels. I thought that was what you liked best." We were walking down the path again.

"Oh right!" he said confirming what I had just said. "We should get meat. Why aren't we hunting again?"

"Well to be truthful, I wanted to see a famous local restaurant; the townspeople say it's quite good." Katara finally admitted. "They've especially emphasized the breakfast items."

"I hope they have meat" said Sokka as he salivated. I could feel the spit drop to the ground. He was disgusting as ever, yet still kinda cute in that way.

"Yeah, well I want some fresh apples, is all." Aang had been walking much slower now that he saw the whole gang was here. I guess he wanted to spend some time with Sugar Queen alone. Oh well.

We had reached the outskirts of the small Earth kingdom village now. It was very small, only about 200 inhabitants.

"Hmm, that's weird." I said out loud without meaning to.

"What is it Toph? An Earthquake? A rampaging mob?" Sokka was hoping for a little excitement I guess.

"No, nothing like that; there's a teenager escaping through an underground tunnel leading out of a bar. Usually that doesn't happen until late in the day or night."

"Do you think we should check it out?" Sokka was clearly thirsting for adventure more so than usually today.

"Well I think we should check out the restaurant he's escaping first and see why if we can. Look, if hes right under us, he's coming out of the restaurant that I wanted to go to earlier." Katara said. She walked up to the entrance and opened the door before closing it immediately.

"What's wrong Katara?" said Aang. "Who's in there?"

"Oh, just Azula and her friends taking a stroll through the Earth kingdom." Katara tried to sound calm but her voice was wavering just a bit.

"What? They aren't in the capitol trying to take over the kingdom?" I was just as thirsty for a fight as Sokka.

"Let's fight. We can take them!" Sokka had realized how much I wanted to fight and was happy to see someone like him.

"Wait." said Aang. "One of us should check out that guy leaving the bar. Not too many people actually recognize Azula and her group. The problem now is who should meet him or her?"

I stomped my foot and the whole group looked at me. "What? He was leaving the tunnel just now so I trapped him using earthbending for the time being. Problem solved."

"You can't just do that to people Toph." Aang shook his head.

"Worry about it later Twinketoes. We've got bigger things to worry about now." I spat at the ground and strode in.

The Traveler:

The Earth closed up right over the entrance. "Damn." I cursed under my breath not out of frustration but of joy. I had found them at last. It had taken months. "Damn." I cursed again but not out of such joy again. Where was it? I had it right with me…

The book was missing and it had the power to destroy the entire world with it.

Aang, the Avatar:

I was second in line after Toph walking into the restaurant. I don't know why we all felt so compelled to fight. Maybe it was because of the rejuvenation one has after waking up in the morning or perhaps it was because of the recent victory…

They saw us immediately.

"Avatar!" Azula shouted and pointed at me, her fingers sparking. "Ha! We have found you and now will kill you."

"Ugh do we have to? I just ate."

"I agree with Mai again, Azula. After all you wanted to not capture the Avatar anyway."

Realizing that her odds are against her she decided to retreat by burning a hole in the wall "Fine! We shall settle this later Avatar!" She ran out with her comrades setting fire to other buildings as she ran.

"Get back here!" I wanted to follow her, but I realized that I had to save the town first. "Katara, Sokka, Toph help get this fire under control." I ran after her ignoring my better instincts but lost them in the fire after a few moments and returned to the fire. Toph managed to smother some fire on the ground but didn't want to get dirt and rocks all over the buildings. Sokka was helping bystanders and Katara was trying to take out fires with her limited water supply. I knew we had to end this fast if we wanted nobody to get hurt. I jumped up in the air and used some airbending to blow out some fires. It was helping a little but was not enough in the end.

A high pitched noise flew through the air and Toph began screaming something about the guy in the tunnel, and utter chaos broke out. People ran everywhere but I noticed the fires slowly going out on their own. Or were they? I couldn't tell. I just kept blowing out fires while the noise came in waves.

It went like this for a few minutes until I noticed a teenager, about Sokka's age and height somehow blowing out the fires in correlation with the noise. He walked slowly and went on like this until the last of the fires went out.

He walked over to me and said "Hi I'm –"

Toph stopped him before he could finish his sentence and 'handcuffed' him earthbending style. Two pillars rose out of the ground and circled around his hands. A third one muffled the rest of what he was saying and blocked his mouth.

She walked over to him with anger and confusion. "How did you escape? Who are you? I. WANT. ANSWERS."

"Ok Toph, there's no reason to assume he's not friendly." I said. Being the Avatar and all, it was me duty to keep peace and therefore save this boy from Toph. Let's say he wasn't very calm right now.

"Aang! Is this book…yours?" Sokka held a book in his hands and was reading it. It was a very fancy book and probably could have been sold for a lot of money.

"No, why?" I was curious as to what it was. The guy trapped by Toph was now sweating and more nervous than ever.

"…"

"Sokka."

"…"

"Sokka! What is it?"

"Aang, this is a book with information about all four nations, their strengths weaknesses and cultures but that's not the weirdest part…"

"What is it?"

"Well…it has pictures and stories of us, except depicted in exact detail. You would have to have been there."

I turned to the handcuffed guy but he wasn't there. He had escaped Toph's prison again and I found him on Sokka wrestling for the book.

"You don't know what that is! You are sooo lucky right now." The stranger screamed after saying this.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclamer: Man Avatar don't belong to me in the slightest. I think it was Nickelodeon that owns this. Or someone.**

Aang, the Avatar:

I stared at the two on the ground for a few minutes before trying to help Sokka. How could someone like that, who struggled with wrestling with Sokka, had broken Toph's earth handcuffs? I mean she was the best earthbender in the world!

This was all an afterthought after I realized Sokka was losing. I was about to jump in to help him, but Katara beat me to it, so I stayed back.

Something about this guy wasn't hostile…It was more like…Fear? Pain?

Katara pulled water out of her pouch and very careful splashed Sokka's opponent in the face. That stunned him, but mostly surprised him, long enough for Sokka to hit him on the head with his club.

That knocked him right out.

"Huh. Guess he wasn't so tough after all. Strange how someone who is this weak broke out of Toph's handcuffs."

"Shut up Twinkletoes." I turned around to see her on the ground hugging her knees.

"Uh Toph, are you ok? Because you don't really…do that…" It wasn't often that I had seen Toph this weak. Whatever that guy had done to her handcuffs might have hurt her too. Benders often feel that their element is a part of them and in extreme cases, when their element is attacked so is the bender. I still remember the pain that came when the moon spirit died.

Toph would have been more vulnerable to this type of pain since she used the earth more than a regular bender.

This was not good.

Sokka was searching the stranger for weapons and then turned to look at me.

"Aang he has no weapons and here-" he gave Katara a book "I think we should…" his voice drained out as he followed my gaze to Toph cowering in pain on the street. "Oh god, Toph are you ok?" He ran over to the girl and put his arm around her. His voice became softer but not too soft as he asked her; "What happened? Can you stand?"

"Yeah. I just…" Toph sighed. "I'm just dizzy. He overloaded my senses a bit. Tell you about it later when the world stops shaking." She stood to her feet and leaned on Sokka for support. Look like he motivated her to stand.

"Don't wear yourself out." I said to the girl before turning to Katara. Her dress was a little charred from the fire but just mostly small spots. "What did Sokka give you?"

"A book." She answered me while slipping it into her bag. "What should we do with him? What do we even call him? He hasn't any identification."

"Well…let's take him with us. As for a name? He'll be –"

"Screech" Toph said. I gave her a quizzical look. "You know – because of all those screeching sounds he made before." I chuckled. She always did have a habit for picking out nicknames for people. Even when in pain apparently.

"I like it. Screech it is." Sokka agreed.

"Great! Lets get back to Appa!" I wondered how he was in the forest all alone.

'Screech' The Traveler:

Pain.

That's what I remember right before I slipped out of consciousness. And then the cold followed. I hate the cold. They put me in the cold. They trapped me in the cold. And then the fear of death. Not for leaving the world but for not using my chance.

Was I dead? Had I died?

No. I was just cold. God I hate, hate, HATE the cold. Cold works well with the dark but not always.

So I welcomed the dark.

Toph Bei Fong:

How had he done that? My handcuffs shattered in front of me and then he leapt at the ground in front of me. He pushed his palms down on the ground in front of me and I felt vibrations all around directed and traveling at me. My head swam and pain and overstimulation and – Stop. _I'm tough. I can handle if the ground gets a little shaky; I'm the best freaking earthbender in the world!_

Even still I was dizzy and I felt nauseous. I'm glad I had Snoozels supporting me. A quick punch to the arm should be a good thank you when I get the chance.

I was vaguely aware of our surroundings and that we were moving towards something; probably base camp. I should ask Sokka.

"Where are we going?" Ten minutes after Screech had attacked and I felt no better. It took all my focus just to say that.

I think Sokka turned to look at me and said something. "Taste lamp."

"Wha?"

He repeated it and I heard a little more clearly but not enough to decipher "Race clamp."

"Wha?" I repeated and this time he answered even more clearly.

"Base camp." He said. So I had been right.

"Ah. Ok." I said. It hurt to speak now. "Wake me up when we get there…"

I fell asleep as he started to support my weight fully. I think he was giving me a piggy back ride. At that point, I didn't care. I just wanted to block out the pain. Sleeping did just that but I wished I hadn't dreamed at all.

It was hot. Ugh heat was so tiring and the light scorched me. It was fuzzy. Sand was everywhere. But the worst part was the thirst. My mouth and throat were dry. And full of sand.

I hated sand. It was tantalizing. It seemed to swirl around me and speak.

_Oh you want to see? Come on then, I am earth am I not? What? You prefer solid rock? Why I'm just that but ground up. Still don't like me?_

It laughed at her. It laughed at her powerlessness and weakness. "Just stupid sand." I muttered back.

_Here she is! Toph the greatest of them all, reduced by a little change in scenery. Your weakness makes you stronger Toph. And I'm not talking about listening to the earth._

"What do you mean?" I asked the ground but it didn't answer. It was swirling around me and I was sinking. The sand rose draining me of water and engulfing me. It was up to my knees, my arms, my neck, filling my lungs.

I screamed and awoke.

'Screech' The Traveler:

She Sprung up and screamed. Nobody was awake at this time but me. Nobody was awaked by her scream.

Not that it was loud, but still a scream nonetheless.

"Bad dream?" I said. She was sitting up at this point and turned to look at me as I asked her. She glared at me but I didn't mind. She was probably mad at me for attacking her earlier.

"Why do you have to know?"

"I don't. I was just a bit concerned is all." She obviously didn't believe me. After attacking Toph, I knew I had hurt my chances of earning their trust. Well at least for now. "Sokka was taking watch but he fell asleep. Any chance of untying me by the way?" the ropes were starting to get a little uncomfortable.

"Not so you can just attack me again." She seemed to get more upset and I wanted them to trust me. I _needed_ them to trust me.

"Hey sorry about earlier. I didn't want anybody to get their hands on my book. Not even the Avatar. Not yet. I did what was necessary."

"What was necessary? How is doing…whatever you did to me necessary?" she was getting angrier now and I was concerned she might wake someone up or earthbend some rocks at me.

I reached over to the ground. At least my hands were tied up in front of me and not behind my back. It had helped me recover my book from that water tribe girl's bag. I picked up the book and answered her.

"I'm holding the most powerful weapon in the world right now. This book holds bending techniques to every nation in the world and how to counter them. It holds the strengths and weaknesses of every nation specifically weakness. Major weakness. So yeah, this is for Avatar eyes only. Later, when he's ready." Her expression was shock for a split second before going to her poker face.

"How did you get that? Why do you have it?" Her face was blank but her voice was totally stunned.

"Hmph. Why should I tell you my whole backstory?"

"Because Sokka said something about it having all of our adventures in it. That concerns me and makes me think you have been spying on us."

"I have." She actually showed more shock now. "The firebenders made me do it. I hate them." At that moment a look of sincere pity and understanding went through her. "Look. I want you to trust me. I want to journey with you guys but for now I need sleep. I'll tell you more in the morning, but for now do you mind taking a watch?"

I didn't even wait for a response before I fell asleep. That was rude of me.

Aang, the Avatar:

I woke up first as I always did. The monks had taught me to wake up at dawn every day and I tried to incorporate their teachings every day. I wish sometimes that I wasn't a vegetarian though.

"Hey." Toph didn't face me as she said this but I knew she had felt me move and thus deduced I was awake.

"How are you feeling?" I responded.

"A little dizzy still but better." She seemed to be watching nothing particular but I knew better. She was observing the ground around her and feeling its vibrations.

"That's good" I said, unsure how to end the conversation. "Should we wake up the others now? I mean we have a lot to do and to prepare for."

"Yes. But I want to interrogate Screech first."

"Of course. I think he owes it to you." I started to wake the others but Toph beat me to it. She stood up and slammed her foot down. Three small pillars of rock shot up simultaneously under the other three members to our group waking up Sokka, Katara and the newcomer.

A quick and wordless breakfast transpired before Toph started the interrogation. Sokka and Katara looked confused so I filled them in.

Toph dragged the guy toward us and put him in front of her. Sokka Katara and I sat in straight line facing the two of them.

"I talked to him a little last night while I was on watch duty. I had to fill in for somebody that fell asleep." She glared at Sokka. "He told me a few things before falling asleep himself. He said that he was forced by the Fire Nation to spy on us."

He interjected. "That's why there are all those stories about you in the book. I wrote them."

"Shut up. You talk when we say to." Toph was being a little mean today but I could understand. She plucked the book out of his hands and held it up. "He says this contains all the weaknesses of the four nations and their bending techniques. He says it's for the Avatar only. But not right now because apparently Aang isn't ready." She tossed me the book. "There you go." She turned to the guy and said: "Your 'mission' is finished. Leave us."

"But—" he started to say something but Toph cut him off.

"At this point I don't care who you are or what you want to do. I don't even care how you did what you did yesterday, but as long as you're away from us you can't do it again." Toph actually looked like she was hurt badly now, as if she had an internal injury. She tried her best to hide it but it still shone through.

This was bad. Toph was mad and hurt but I couldn't just let him leave without getting any answers. I had a little idea as to what he did yesterday and I needed for it to be confirmed.

"I think we should at least get more answers first." I stood up and faced Toph.

"No."

"I need to know something from him."

"No."

"Toph, this is important! I need to see how he made those noises!"

"Look Twinkletoes, if you don't throw him out I'm leaving. I can't be around him any longer!"

"He's staying." I was adamant. He could be one of _those_ benders.

"Fine! I thought you were getting a little of a backbone Aang! You just started to Earthbend a few days ago!" Toph turned to the guy and told him: "You got your wish. You can stay with them but it's your fault—" she pointed at him "and your fault—" she pointed at me "I'm leaving!"

She stormed off and Sokka chased after her. I could hear him saying "Toph, wait!"

I was dumfounded and turned to look at the stranger. What had he done to her to make her hate him so much?

"Can I at least get your name before I go off to chase Toph as well?"

He looked down. "Come on, something? If you won't tell me we'll keep calling you Screech."

"Screech it is then."

Funny. I was copying Sokka.

Toph Bei Fong:

_I can't believe them! Aang wants him there more than me?_

"Toph, wait!"

_Oh, shut up Sokka._

I could feel him run up behind me so I ran faster to get away from him. He kept following me so I took twists and turns throughout the forest to lose him. Still no luck. After a short while of this I stopped in a clearing to turn and face him.

"Leave me alone!" I shouted at him but he didn't respond. He just walked up to me and stopped. I could feel him staring at me.

"What do you want!" I demanded but still no response. I could feel a tear in my eye. He stood there staring at me until he put his hand on my shoulder and threw out a question.

"Why? Why are you so afraid of him? Toph…What _did_ he do to you?"

I took his hand off my shoulder and turned around.

"I'm not afraid of him! I'm –" someone was there but it wasn't a Aang or Katara. Could it be him? No Screech's footsteps are heavier. "Turn around Snoozels."

I heard him say "Ty Lee?" before he fell to the ground.

"So it's you then." I turned to face her and got into a typical earthbender stance.

"Yup! We took aaaall night trying to find you! Mai said Azula is mercurial for doing that, but I don't know what that means." She took a stance too. "Do you?"

I charged her.

'Screech' The Traveler:

"I'm going after them! We can't let them get lost!"

"Aang I don't think that's a good idea…"

"It doesn't matter! She's our friend, we can't—"

"Shut up." I interrupted him but it was necessary.

"I don't think you have any say in the matter so take your own advice!" he was angry at me. Looks like I made another 'friend'.

"No. you can't chase after them. Ohh god. This was the worst time for _them_ to show up…"

"Who? I thought they just ran off...?" Aang turned to Katara for a possible answer.

There was a laugh and then a shot of fire heading right toward Aang. He turned but not in time to stop it. Water intercepted his path and we all turned to see Azula and Mai ready to attack.

"Them" I said. I braced myself for a fight.

"Thank you for splitting up right as we found you!" And with that, Azula let forth another blast of fire.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own or claim to own Avatar and whatever. I'm not awesome enough to come up with it.**

Toph Bei Fong:

I knew Ty Lee could Chi block me taking away my bending temporarily. I knew she could paralyze her foes with a few taps. I knew she had just taken down Sokka within a few seconds. But at that point in time, that fell out of my head to make way for my emotions to control me. I was mad because of Aang and Screech. I was also mad because of Sokka on the ground and she did it. I kinda had a crush on him which helped my anger too I guess. Not that I would ever tell him about it.

Anyway, letting my emotions take over was a mistake. I didn't use any bending because of it so Ty Lee easily side stepped me and tapped me. I fell just as quick as Sokka.

But just before I became completely paralyzed I let out a loud scream of frustration.

"AAAARRGG!"

Aang, the Avatar:

My first though after Katara had blocked the shot of fire coming at me was of gratitude for her. My second thought was how to counter Azula. My third thought was concern for Sokka and Toph that was well justified as I heard a scream. It came from far away and probably from Toph.

This was all during a split second because Azula had said something and launched a fire blast at us.

This time Screech and I stopped it with airbending from me and a loud screech from him.

Katara was fighting Mai at this time and was blocking a few knives with a wall of ice.

Screech jumped next to me to get closer to Azula and to talk to me.

"I think I should go after them." He told me as Azula sent yet more fire at us.

"No way! I'm not letting you out of my sight!" I countered her fire with a circle of spinning air.

"Look, you and I both know you must have an idea as to what I am." He said that as I heard some ice shatter so I turned to look at Katara. She had blocked the latest volley of knives thrown at her but her defense had been broken and she had been thrown a bit back.

"Katara!" I shouted and leapt to her defense. If Screech really _was _that kind of bender, he could handle a firebender for a second. I threw a blast of air at Mai and sent her into a bush. A few loud noises came from behind me and then Screech yelled.

"Ackk!" I felt him hit my back and we both fell to the ground. He muttered and apology and helped me up. I muttered a thank you and said: "If you are that then you must have located them by Toph's scream. If Toph fell then Sokka probably did too…Fine. You can go."

He gave me a pat on the back and gave me the first smile I had seen from him. Why was he smiling?

He ran off.

'Screech' The Traveler:

Pinpointing their location was easy. Finding a path to them was easy. But…if Azula and Mai where fighting Aang and Katara then _she_ must be fighting Toph and Sokka. Or _fought_ them.

_Don't think about it. Don't think about what she did to me._

I could have run faster, as fast as the wind actually but I was delaying fighting her. It was selfish of me so I sped up my running.

I was there faster than I wanted to be and Aang was right. Sokka was just on the ground, half conscience of what was happening but Toph was fully out. The after effects of the attack I made against her probably just helped Ty Lee to take her down.

"So. Hello." I said as l looked at her. She saw me and her face lit up.

"Hey!" She shouted at me and ran over. I backed up and took a battle stance.

"I'll f-fight you if n-need be." I cursed at my pathetic threat but she just replied happy as usual.

"Come on! There's really no need for all that." She continued running toward me and gave me a hug. No chi blocking or fighting either. I wasn't shocked at all. In fact this was what I was expecting.

"Please don't do that. It just makes it harder for me." In spite of saying this I mustered up the courage to return the hug.

"Look I'm…conflicted. I sorry about what they did to you and what I did to you but you can still come back! I can get Azula to vouch for you and then the Fire lord will spare you and then we can—"

"No. I can't." I broke away from the hug. "I need to go with these guys…you don't understand. See that girl over there?" I pointed to Toph and her gaze followed. "Notice how easy it was to beat her? I'm not sure you know this, but she's very talented…I'm going to propose a counter offer. You come with us. These guys are more forgiving than the Fire Lord." I could see the temptation in her eyes and the sheer desire to do what I just had said. But it was soon extinguished by fear—no, terror.

"I would really like to but…I have a loyalty to the Fire Nation. And besides I'm…" I knew she wouldn't say it but I could finish her sentence. She was about to say she's _afraid of Azula_.

"I don't want this but I guess we're enemies, or at least for now for now. But make me a promise. First help them and then discreetly help me. At least in battle, if you can't get all these soldiers off me." I saw that she looked skeptical and was afraid that she wouldn't do it. To my surprise she said:

"I will. But you have to do the same for me ok?" She showed me a grin and stuck her hand out for a handshake.

"Of course!" I internally strained to shake her hand but she 'tricked' me. She took my hand and pulled me into a hug. I broke away quickly though and she went over to Sokka and tapped him a few times. Sokka got up after a few seconds. It seemed as though he was still a little out of it but his expression was of confusion. He made no action against her as she went over to do the same to Toph. Ty Lee flashed me smile before going back into the woods.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I had to act as if I wasn't afraid of her which had been made easier by her nice demeanor. I knew she was a nice person under it all but that didn't excuse her of her actions.

"I suppose that you heard all that then?" I didn't even face him as I said this.

"First let me check on Toph. Then I'll get to _you_." He almost spat his last word. The whole sentence was full of disdain. I think he checked her pulse or some other vitals but I didn't look. I was still looking away from him.

"Ok she's out for a while but overall ok." I could hear him walk up behind me. I knew I would have to turn around eventually so I did. His face and body language screamed 'traitor'.

So I let out a sigh. He was getting impatient.

"I want to trust you but…you haven't proven yourself exactly trustworthy. But look at what you just did here! You hugged the enemy, and tried to get her to join us. I don't trust her to keep her promise by the way either."

At this I was angered. "What?!" I screamed "You don't know her or me or our relationship!"

He was silent and shocked. "Relationship?" he repeated. "What did you just say?"

"No, I don't mean 'going out'…but I thought maybe someday…nevermind its confusing. You said you can't trust me. So I'm going to make you trust me."

He raised an eyebrow.

"You and I are similar. You're 15, I'm 15. You're male, I'm male. You like meat, I like meat. I'll tell you my story but I need you to not tell anyone. Not yet at least."

"Why? Why shouldn't I just turn around and tell everyone else?"

"You'll find out eventually. Let me tell you."

Toph Bei Fong:

The sand came again. It kept tormenting me and I began to resent it even more. The worst part was that it began to take a shape. It took a body, featureless at first but then gradually began to represent Screech.

I was fine with it I guess. I didn't like him. He and sand showed me I was weak to the Earth. I was weak to my element.

How pathetic. And yet it was terrifying at the same time. I knew what he did to me but I had no idea how he did it.

He had created something along the lines of seismic waves and poured them into my body. How had he done that? At least I knew how the sand got to me, but he just defied me. He defied me an answer as to why the earth had betrayed me, or more accurately how he made earth betray me.

Sandbending just wasn't my strength and it loved to remind me.

Aang, the Avatar:

I wished I hadn't let him leave.

Azula herself was a big enough problem but Mai added to the mix took it up a notch. Katara and I kept our fighting partners after he had left and the battle went noticeably downhill since then. The two citizens of the Fire nation had pushed us back to back.

"Aang." Katara whispered into my ear. "They have us cornered and are countering our every move. We need a new strategy."

"Yeah I know! But we're kinda too busy to think about anything now!" I sent a blast of air toward Azula but a wall of fire stopped it. Her eyes were mocking me. They seemed to awaken weakness in me. She was definitely a little crazy.

"Having a bit of trouble?" Now she really was mocking me. Azula shot an unceasing blast of fire at me and I diverted it to the side of me creating a cocoon around me and Katara. I thought I had bought a little time but azula shot herself in the air like a rocket. She was about to shoot fireballs at me while in midair but just then Ty Lee burst through the bushes wounded.

"Azula!" she shouted her name and Azula hesitated to look at her and at that moment I shot a blast of air at her again. Azula flew in the opposite direction and hit a tree. I heard something crunch but I didn't register it.

I took a second to glance at Ty Lee and saw that she had only minor injuries. She had a few bruises and small cuts but that didn't look like Toph or Sokka had beaten her. It looked like she fell into a thornbush. Maybe Screech had done it, maybe not, but at that time I was just happy to get the upper hand.

"Azula!" Ty Lee shouted again and helped her comrade back up after flying into the tree. Mai ran over to defend her too. Azula looked pretty winded and she glared at me. Ty Lee continued to speak. "We need to get out of here! The earthbender is after me and you're hurt."

"You're weak." Azula response seemed to hurt Ty Lee a little but she retorted just as quickly.

"They outnumbered me three two one, not to mention I actually can't bend anything and two of them can. Beside that you can't keep fighting in this state." Ty Lee checked Azula's arm. "Your arm is broken."

"No it's not! I can—" Azula tried to move her arm to disprove Ty Lee but she cringed in pain. "Fine." She said. "I will be back for you Avatar. To kill or capure, I will be back." Ty Lee helped her to retreat while Mai followed behind them, guarding them from any attack we could possibly take.

But I was tired. The adrenaline rush I felt during the fight was already leaving me and I realized the toll all of the training lately had taken on me.

I turned to Katara. She wasn't tired at all. Of course this was a normal day in our lives.

"Shall we look for the others on Appa now?" I said.

"Sure." She smiled and that brought my spirits up. We got on Appa and with a little "Yip-Yip" we were flying.

Toph Bei Fong:

I awoke to see Sokka and Screech in a conversation. They were talking furtively as if they didn't want to be over heard. My first though was why Screech was here and then how Ty Lee had been beaten. No doubt it was his handywork.

I glared at them until they noticed me and their conversation sputtered out.

"Toph!" Sokka ran over and helped me to my feet. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine. I don't need any help but thank you." I punched him in the arm. Screech was still standing where he and Sokka had been conversing earlier.

"How are you _really_ feeling? Is there a ringing in your ears still?" He asked me this as he started to walk over to me.

"How did you know?" I responded.

"It's usually and aftereffect of my…specific abilities…I can help if you want." He offered an innocent smile. I turned toward Sokka showing my dislike for him all over my face. But Sokka didn't side with me. Instead he just said something that surprised me.

"I trust him. Just let him help you ok?"

"Why?" I said. "He took my element and turned it against me! Why should I ever do that?" How could Sokka trust him more than me? First Aang, but now him? I couldn't take it. He looked over at Screech and they had an invisible conversation.

Screech finally said; "If we want her to trust me we might as well tell her."

"But, you can't, remember?"

What was going on here?

"I was ready to throw caution to the wind before and I'll do it again." He looked at me and started to say something but at that moment Aang shouted down to us from Appa.

His timing was horrendous.

* * *

_A/N Ok so the last chapter had a few mistakes in it, grammar, spelling and the story slightly contradicting itself so I'm gonna apologize for that and I fixed it. The reason behind it was because I fell off the grid for 4 weeks straight so I just…left you guys hanging. So I thought you deserve another chapter and you deserve it now. And then I wrote the chapter and it was around 3 AM when I stopped…ummm yeah my brain isn't 100% at 3 AM. So if you don't want to go back and read it for the small corrections here they are:_

_Toph got some after effects the morning after Screech attacked her and Screech believes the Avatar isn't ready to see the book yet. Done! Unless you want to go back see that I changed "here" to "her" and read a few more sentences that I added. (I also fixed Barely don't worry thanks for that by the way; I appreciate it greatly. :D)._

_HAHAHA you thought you would know Mr. New Guy's identity? Nope! Only Sokka knows…besides Mr. New Guy. Not sure I like 'Screech'…The name I mean._

_Moral of this note; 4 weeks between stories isn't the norm._


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar. End of Story. Feel free to steal my ideas though, if you wish. Just don't copy and paste.**

Ty Lee:

"Don't move your arm. It will hurt more." The daughter of the Fire Lord was lying down in front of me and I was taking care of her.

We were in an inn, in a small Earth Kingdom village.

She had broken her arm in a fight with the avatar and her group and I felt a little responsible actually. I hadn't been there to help her, instead I had taken on the water tribe boy and the little earthbender girl.

He was kinda cute, but I didn't actually expect anything to come of it just by occasionally teasing him in battle. The water tribe boy, I mean. But Zias? He was a different story. He cool, amazing, a handsome and I actually had a connection with him or we weren't enemies at one point. But then he went and listened in on a confidential meeting and well…treason wasn't looked well upon in any nation.

"This is awful! How can I capture the Avatar or my brother or do anything now?" Azula said. She was complaining again.

"I don't know. We can just get a doctor and help him or her heal you and then it will be fixed in a month or two."

"A _Month_? We don't have a day!"

"Well I don't know any magical way to heal a person in a day so you're stuck with a broken arm then!"

"How dare you –"

"I know a way." Mai was leaning against the doorframe, and obviously had just listened to our conversation.

"Well what is it? Spit it out!"

"Ever study the cultures that we're conquering? I do, to exploit weaknesses, although it's usually worthless. Waterbenders have a special power, one to speed the healing process. Apparntly, they think that girls are better at this so this is all girl waterbenders are taught. Now where would we get a girl waterbender?" Mai seemed bored to have to explain all this, but then again, she always seems bored.

"You mean the waterbender that travels with the avatar?" I said. I was happy that we could fix Azula faster than we thought.

"That's and excellent idea Mai." Said Azula. "Not only will we have her to heal me but we will also have a hostage. It's settled then. We're kidnapping her."

I was starting to wish I hadn't promised Zias that I'd help him.

Toph Bei Fong:

I heard Aang yelling at us from Appa and then felt the Bison touch down. Out of habit I turned to face Aang and Katara as they hit the ground too, turning my back on Sokka and Screech. Their heart rates fell a little bit. That was interesting but not unexpected.

"Hey guys! How's it going? Is anybody hurt?" I identified that voice to be Aang.

"Yeah but I think Toph is hurt from yesterday when she was attacked by Screech." That was Sokka.

"Shut up Sokka. I'm fine." I wasn't helpless, despite my appearances. "I believe he was about to say something to me." I pointed to Screech. "And I want him to continue."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Katara posed a question that I found hard to answer. I remained silent.

Finally, Screech spoke up. "I believe she means to say that I was going to explain myself to you. To all of you."

"Wait." Sokka spoke up interrupting him. "Can I explain? If you don't mind." I felt him move a bit. I was pretty sure he was looking at Screech.

Screech shook his head "Go ahead. I don't like talking about myself anyway."

Everybody turned to Sokka, including myself waiting for an explanation.

"I'm going to start out with what his real name is. His name is Zias and he's a soundbender." He paused for a reaction as to avoid interruption and with good reason.

Katara and Aang started to talk at once while I coolly said "What is that?" It wasn't loud but it cut through all the other noise coming from Aang and Katara.

"It's a form of airbending, but I don't know any of the details. I think Aang or Zias could fill us in later, but before then, you should probably know where he came from. As we all know, 100 years ago the fire nation whipped out all of the airbenders, except for Aang. Apparently when he went missing, a small group of airbenders went in search after him. This group was spared the attack of the firebenders but had to hide away to keep themselves safe. This group consisted of a grown airbender, his wife and his brother."

Screech or Zias (what a stupid name) interjected. "Those were my mother and father and uncle. They went to the North Pole and I was born. My father taught me soundbending and then we were found by firebenders. They killed my family on the spot. They were about to kill me too, but I convinced them I wasn't related to them and was from a firebender colony. I told them I was being held hostage by them. They seemed to pity me and luckily they took me in."

Sokka finished his story for him "He was transported to the fire nation and then escaped to search for us once he had heard of our existence. He wanted help from us."

"And the Book?" Aang asked.

"Got it from a weird library in a desert somewhere. Thought it might be useful." He shrugged after saying this as if to say instead: _No biggie_.

But something didn't add up. I couldn't tell if they were lying or not and I didn't know why. I was as if they were muted or disconnected from the ground.

"Why? How?" I said. I was shocked by what they were doing.

"Ummm…What do you mean?" Sokka said. He seemed sincerely confused but I was still suspicious.

"You're…blocked off from the earth. You and Screech aren't giving off any heartbeat or anything else for that matter. It's like you're not even standing there. Are you hiding something from me?"

"No, I'm not. Have you just noticed this?" Screech/Zias said. "I should always be a bit fuzzy to you; I involuntarily give of white noise that blends into the backround. Part of my whole, ya know, soundbendin shindig. You're hearing the part that comes off my feet."

"How come Aang doesn't do that? He's a soundbender by affiliation too."

"Firebenders have something similar. They are more prone to static electricity because they are lightningbenders too. But Aang is the avatar. He doesn't get static electricity any more than you do. What I'm trying to say is he's more limited to the four elements, even though he can bend sound and lightning et cetra."

I was silent. He was answering my questions but I didn't know if he was lying or not. It made me feel unease.

"Oh and by the way? Um, I may have knocked a few major organs of yours out of alignment when I attacked you so, that's why you still feel dizzy. And nauseas."

"WHAT?" Sokka and I shouted at the same time. I could barely feel Sokka turn to him and lift him of the ground. Probably by the collar.

"Umm, but I can help? Soundbending? Please don't hurt me?" His voice was nervous now. "I just need to knock them back into where they were before."

"No way." I said. "I will never trust you. You exploited my one way of sight! I'll let Katara help me."

"Well Katara only fixes injuries not move organs. I don't think—"

"Shut up Zias." Said Sokka. "Why would you ever do that anyway? We usually refrain from hurting each other thank you very much. You know what? Toph is right. Just leave."

"But—" Zias wanted to say something but Sokka interrupted him.

"Go away. I don't care if you want to learn airbending from Aang, just go."

I felt him walk away.

Zias:

It was probably for the best that I left. I didn't think they would get that mad but, who can predict emotion anyway?

The problem was where to go to now? Ty Lee came to mind first but that plan was quickly scrapped. I couldn't rejoin the fire nation.

The North Pole? Maybe, but I had no means to get there.

Ba Sing Se? Definitely worth a shot.

I wish I had a map instead of a stupid book. I resolved to burn that later.

* * *

_A/N:_

_So a little short for the long hiatus between chapters, but I got writers block. I wanted to capture the characters from the show but I think I'm failing miserably._

_Came up with 17 different endings for the story as a whole though...and a Legend of Korra story as well!_


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar. Take my original ideas! I insist!**

Aang, the Avatar:

Time passed.

We travelled, we ate, we slept, we fought. We explored.

We went to that library he had talked about. He was almost erased from our minds. Toph was healed very quickly, physically, but I wasn't sure if she had healed mentally.

But she was strong. She was the strongest person I had ever met. I was sure she was fine.

Appa was stolen. I got angry, furious even. But Katara calmed me down eventually.

We walked, we talked, we (well, not entirely we) romanced. We had fun, well as much fun as we could have in this dreary war.

We had finally reached Ba Sing Se only to be greeted by a drill boring into its wall.

But then it all went wrong.

Zias:

Time dragged on.

I got lost, I starved, I walked through sleepless nights. It was like the time the fire nation had hunted me. They still do.

I walked through trees, I walked through lakes, I walked through a desert. Fate, it had seemed had always separated me from the Avatar. When I had finally met them, they shut me out I hadn't even argued. I knew in the back of my mind that I was a fool. I shouldn't have done…well everything I suppose.

Only Sokka know my true story now, and I hoped he hadn't told them the real deal.

Lying. I was lying. I was a liar.

But they had bought it, for now I suppose. Truth was, this wasn't the original planet which humans had walked on. Nobody needed to know though.

I checked my grasp on all four of the elements. I could still firebend, waterbend and earthbend but I had very, very little control over those elements. All I could do was create a small spark or a tiny flame. I had trouble lifting even the smallest pebble. With water, I could do a little more, but not much. Maybe half a glass.

I made my way surprisingly to Ba Sing Se within a few days. Even smuggling myself in wasn't hard. What came next though was traumatizing. But that is to be expected by now I guess shouldn't it?

The people here had no idea about the war or anything to do with it, or at least didn't talk about it. This was a problem.

_What the heck is wrong with you people? Do you even know about the war that has crippled your country for like a hundred years?_

It was around lunchtime and I was feeling hungry, so I decided to go to the market to find some food. I also didn't want to attract attention so I stole some clothes from a local shop. I knew it was a bad thing to do, but I did what was necessary to survive.

The market was full of people and vendors. I swiped some fruit and vegetable from a cart. Again, it was necessary. The vendor saw me do this and called out to me after I left.

"Hey! Are you gonna pay for those?" Hm. This was a problem I could've handled better in retrospect. I ran away. "Stop! He's a thief! Catch him!"

The people around me started to chase me too and I was soon surrounded. Oh this was not going to end well…

I was arrested.

Aang, the Avatar: 

Mai and Ty Lee ambushed us. Sokka was down quickly and I tried to fight her but with a few taps, she temporarily took my bending. Katara and Toph were fighting Mai and she was greatly out powered. Her knives and weapons were easily deflected or blocked.

I didn't have a lot of time to focus on their battle because I was quickly losing mine. While I didn't have my bending, I did have my staff to spar with.

I blocked hit after hit that Ty Lee tried to throw at me. I looked back to see how Toph and Katara were faring, but that was a mistake. Ty Lee tapped me a few times and I fell to the ground. "AAck!" I shouted.

Ty Lee saw the hesitation in Toph's body language and took advantage of that fell to the ground, outnumbering Katara.

"Don't chi – block her!" We need her bending!" Mai said.

I blacked out soon after.

Zias:

The Angry mob of people turned me over to the police, who then turned me over to the Dai Li for I was unable to verify my identity, prompting me to be seen as an outsider.

I was lead to an underground chamber and tied down to a chair. A man walked in with a weird mustache.

"We thank you for not struggling." He said with his hands behind his back. "You would have just been deported, you see, but it seems like we have no information on you at all, so they want to know exactly who you are."

"Pfft. Why am I so interesting? Wouldn't you not have any information on a lot of people?" I said, with a steady, even casual voice.

"Well, that was only one of the reasons. You see, when searched, we found this." He pulled out a book and I started to sweat.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with pal. That book can kill millions. You want that on your conscience?" I said, trying to convince him to give back the book.

"Oh, I've skimmed this and found it _very_ fascinating. Which millions of lives are we talking about here? I think it's hotmen scum that we would wipe away with this." He leaned slightly forward and down to stare directly into my eyes, intimidating me even more. But I kept my cool.

"And where would it end? Would you want to ensure peace and thus try to take over the water tribe? What if some act of disloyalty took it from you and gave it to other nations? What if the Fire Lord read that book?"

He stood up and took a step back, obviousy thrown off by my argument. This didn't last long though, for he came up with a counter argument pretty quickly.

"Do you really think I would let this book out of my hands for a second? I am well aware of the risks mister, ah, what is your name?"

"Not saying." I said in a defiant tone

"Well then, you'll just tell us it later then right?" A lamp was rotating on a rail around him. "Now let me ask again. What is your name?"

"Same response bub." I said, in the same defiant tone. What was he doing? This rotation became unnerving and creepy by the third time it happened.

I found myself unable to break my gaze from the lamp. What is happening?

_Shake it off!_ I heard a voice in my head. _He's hypnotizing you! Why do you think that nobody mentioned the war or that instance when those girls were just soo cheery?_

_What? He's a good man. _I responded to this voice. _He just wants to keep the peace in Ba Sing Se. I should let him know everything he wants to know._ My eyes lost focus on everything and I blocked out any visual signals I received.

"What is your name? What do they call you back home?" I heard an outside voice now and was unable to resist it this time.

"I am—" I started to say but the voice came back interrupted me. _STOP! STOP THIS!_ It was screaming now, screaming it seemed, for freedom.

The man's face lite up a bit and I heard the outside voice again. "Ah, good. It's starting to work. Most people don't have as high a resistance as he. Let's continue. What is your name?"

"My name is Zias." It flowed out of me this time with no voice to interrupt. _Oh good. It's gone, and I can tell the nice man what he wants to know._ I thought.

The outside voice spoke once again and said: "Good. Good. Now we're getting somewhere. Let's see…Where did you come from? Why are you here? Where did this book came from? Where can I get more information like this?"

"The book came from the library." I said. _Wait what? Why am I not answering his questions?_

The outside voice seemed disappointed. "Hmm. More resistance. Oh well, we'll explore those other questions later; let's expand on the one he _did_ answer." I think he leaned down again to stare at me but I made no sign to say that I registered his action. I didn't register it.

"Where and what is 'the library'?" the outside voice said.

The other inside voice, came back rejuvenated. It seemed more in his favor this time around. _Don't tell him. It's for his own good. The big scary owl will eat him._

_I agree. _"Can't tell you." I said "The owl might get you."

At this the man was clearly confused, but at that moment something happened at the door and another outside voice came into my head.

"Sir!" I said.

"What?" said the nice man. "I'm in the middle of an interrogation."

"The Fire nation is invading! They are drilling at the wall, and we must act to capture witnesses or stop this from happening!"

"Hmmph. I guess this will have to wait for later then. Wait a second, I've got an idea. You." I think the man was addressing me so I said:

"Yes?"

"You are now an aspiring soldier, part of the earth kingdom's army. Go knock some firebender heads."

I felt part of the army – no I was _part_ of the army at that moment. "Yes." I said.

"Come with me now." Two other men moved to remove my restraints. I got up and followed him out of the room.

Ty Lee:

After we took down most of the avatar's team with ease, Mai and I advanced on Katara to capture her.

"We just want your healing abilities." I said, trying to avoid a fight.

"Yeah, I'm sure. What do really want? What do you want with Aang?" She responded.

"We don't want anything! We just need you to heal Azula's arm!"

"Even if I did believe you, I wouldn't help you either way. You're wasting your time, just leave."

"You're outnumbered, we can take you down anytime we want."

"Really? Because I would have thought you would have already. Listen it's either put a knife in my back or take my bending to bring me in."

"How about we kill your brother?" Mai suggested after being silent for most of the conversation. She had Sokka, whom I had paralyzed a few minutes earlier, in her arm, in a choke hold.

"You wouldn't" Katara said. Fear for her brother was all over her face.

Mai said nothing and just held up one of her knives to Sokka's throat.

"Wait!" She looked defeated. "I'll go."

We led her to the drill to care for Azula

Aang, the Avatar:

When I came to, the first thought I had was that Katara was gone. I didn't know how I knew, even without checking. That was weird, I thought they would have killed or abducted me, not Katara.

"Glad to see you're awake" Sokka was carrying me and we were walking in the direction of the drill.

I looked sadly at the drill and said "I'll go on ahead." I flew up the wall that guarded Ba Sing Se.

Zias - Earth kingdom Soldier:

None of the other soldier questioned me, which was strange. Wait, why is that strange? I've been part of this army for as long as I can remember. Which was not long. But it was long, it was all my life.

Argh! This is so frustrating. Why was life so confusing all of a sudden?

I was up on top of the wall looking down at a giant drill.

_I am an earthbender. _I thought. Wait. If I was an earthbender, why can't I earthbend?

"Were you hit by the fire nation acrobat?" said a soldier that was taller than me. He looked down with little pity in his eyes. "You're not earthbending."

"I think I'll be fine." I said focusing harder to move more earth than a pebble.

"Look, kid don't be a hero. If you were taken down say it."

"No. I'm fine." I wanted to make a point so I jumped off the wall. I sure I can earthbend!

"What are you doing? You'll get yourself killed!" the soldier shouted after me but I just kept falling.

_No earthbending yet. Why? _I continued my free fall, speeding up with every passing second. The ground was coming toward me at an alarming rate. What is happening? Suddenly my instincts took over and I didn't think about anything. I wasn't thinking about the soldier or the nice man…wait what man?

I put my arms in front of me and a large sound was emitted from my hands. I slowed down and hit the ground softly.

_What was that? What just happened?_ I looked around to see squandrons of soldier fighting the drill. I rushed over to the nearest one and asked what was happening. The person was too busy to respond so I looked around. I saw a girl jumping around and fighting other people. She looked…_familiar_ somehow.

I shook off the feeling and continued to asses the situation. That's when I started to feel weird. Something was happening to me. I couldn't feel anything and I fell to the ground.

"Zias?" I heard a girl say. "Oh my gods!"

* * *

_A/N: So I haven't posted in a while! Sorry! But I'm working on a secret project! Honest! You'll see soon enough._


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar. Take my original ideas! I insist!**

Zias:

I didn't feel so good.

Ty Lee:

Zias looked very nauseated and in much pain.

Zias:

I am lying on the ground?

Ty Lee:

He was on the ground.

Zias:

The world was swimming around me. God I did not like getting chi blocked. Wait, what is chi blocking? Everything was so confusing.

Ty Lee:

I stared down at him and was scared. He was weak to chi blocking because of me. All because of me.

Zias:

I had no idea who I was anymore, what I was doing, or what my purpose is. Something had messed me up in the head pretty bad and everything was just so…I don't know.

I looked up at the girl and an immediate sense of panic overwhelmed me. Why? Why, why why…but then that subsided and a sense of warmth and coziness took its place.

"Hey, you're scary but pretty. I like you, what's your name?" I said at the girl.

Then I got very tired, so I closed my eyes and slept.

Ty Lee:

He was asleep? Interesting, but more pressing matters were at hand now. Why was he in an earthbender soldier uniform? Why didn't he recognize me? Many more questions were filling my head at that moment but it was all replaced by one other thought. '_you're scary but pretty. I like you' _replayed in my head and I smiled. He _did_ like me! I knew it.

"Don't worry, Zias. I'll help you out for now." I bent down and lifted him up bridal style. I carried him to the drill.

Zias:

I had a memory float by. So I grabbed it and dived into it.

"We need to move troops here, to advance our position in the war!" I heard a man say as he pushed pawns around on a map. I was hidden behind a pillar and watching it all. In my absence, the fire nation had started a war and I wanted to know everything about it. So for right now, I was a citizen of the fire nation. I was an agent on the inside.

I chuckled. Agent on the inside. There seemed to be only old men talking to each other in the room except for one in his thirties or so sitting at the head of the table. That must have been the fire lord I guessed.

These pillars are very large.

"No I disagree. A frontal assault, head on, will not be the best move. We need to divide their forces. Why don't we just take these soldiers and move them here—" He moved the pawns "and stage a small but lethal attack. This will draw the enemy so then we can make the frontal assault."

"What about doing this?" they were all throwing ideas around…boring just get to the ending so I can warn the earth kingdom!

I looked down at my palm and held it out. A small fire burned inside of it and I sighed. My powers were still depleted.

But right then the fire grew bigger and bigger and I had no control of what I was doing. I felt weird, as if my eyes were glowing…black? How is that possible? I tried to get it under control and after a minute I did.

That was a minute too long though.

The light and heat was too strong to go unnoticed but I still hoped…

"Hey you! Come out from there!" oh god, they were going to kill me. With ropes or swords or fire or…suddenly a blast of fire burned the part of the pillar above me and I instinctively ducked.

A man, no the man, the Fire lord himself grabbed me out from behind the pillar. He held me by my collar and lifted me into the air.

"How _dare_ you intrude on a confidential meeting! This is nothing short of treason! You shall be hung for…" he stopped and noticed who I was.

"Oh, it looks like the little kidnapped fire nation colonist wants in on some war strategies. I remember you. You were taken back here and regarded as a war hero for surviving in the North Pole for so long."

He threw me to the ground at this. "Looks like you weren't the loyal fire nation citizen we thought you to be. Well you got too much public popularity and power now, so I'll make you suffer. You're under the care of who did they assign you to live with? Oh that's right, Tyler or something like that. That girl that hangs out with my daughter. Well now I've got a reason to kill you! And I'll do in the most possible way."

I knew it. He didn't seem to like me from the get go. I he was angry while witnessing my debriefing and I guess it was because I challenged his power.

"Take him to the prison. I'll have you killed in the mourning."

I was led away by fire nation soldiers.

The next morning he was there and with Ty Lee. She looked like she was about to cry. _I'm so sorry._ She mouthed at me.

"You're his only friend right? Kill him. He's a traitor, and you would be serving your country well be doing this."

She hesitated but then walked over and opened the door to my cell. She punched me in the gut a few times and literal tears were on her face now.

"Zias…I'm sorry I have to do this. I'll find a way out of this, I promise."

The Fire Lord still watching was smiling. He was enjoying every precious moment now. Again and again she punched and beat me, crying all the way. Then she tapped me on the head an w. t.

Azula:

Mai brought Katara into my room and shoved her to the ground on her knees. Her hands were bound so she didn't resist.

"Heal her." Mai demanded. She looked up a Mai and spat.

"Oh, I guess she won't heal me. What a shame really. I was intending to not hurt your friend; you know the one that soundbends or whatever…I guess not." Ty Lee had brought him back here not to long ago. She had told me a lot about him, because, she claimed, we might have to fight him, but I think it was because she likes him.

A look of fear spread on her face. Maybe she did care about the kid after all. "You don't have him. Not that I'd care about him anyway." she said.

"Really? That's too bad. You see Ty Lee told me all about him…" We did have him here. Ty Lee once told me to mention some book and said it would scare her. Let's try that then.

"He had a book on him, ya know. Ty Lee said it was important, so I gave it to her. She seems pretty fond of the guy, but let me tell you, I will not hold back." Katara looked even more desperate now.

"In fact, if you're lucky enough, I'll let him stay and become one of us. He can marry Ty Lee, keep his book, and be happy…that is if you'll heal me."

"Marry Ty Lee? He doesn't even know her!" she said.

"Oh did he not tell you? He's in love with the girl; I can tell. In his time as a citizen of the fire nation, he helped us out all sorts of ways in the war, but I think it was mostly because of her. I shouldn't be surprised I suppose. If he went to you, he must have wanted to absolve those sins by helping you instead. But you kicked him out. Justified in the end; he lied to you."

Realization, fear and guilt were all being represented on her face and in her body language.

"He lied to us? How…? When…?"

"Hmm. You want to spare him or not girl? I have other ways of making you heal me. One arm might be broken, but the other can still firebend. Might I also mention the absence of water around as well?"

"No…I'll….I'll do it. But let me talk to him after ok?"

"Sounds fair to me. Now do it!"

"I need some water first."

Ty Lee:

I put Zias down on a cot. He started to sweat and fidget a little while I carried him here. I wondered what he was dreaming about. He was clutching his stomach and his breathing was soft and shallow. Was he sick?

I checked his forehead, but there seemed to be no problem whatsoever.

I should probably wait by him until he wakes up.

Azula:

The process went slowly. Blue light was given off from the small amount of water as it swirled around my arm. However, she was nearing the end of healing me, for the pain was going away.

When all the pain receded, Katara dropped the water.

"It's done. Now let me and Zias go." She said.

I chuckled. "The thing I love about you guys is your naivety." I looked at Mai. "Lock her up in a cell or something. Remember, no water."

She grunted and shrugged her shoulders. She moved toward Katara, grabbed her arm and led her out of the room.

It was amazing. Maybe once the fire nation takes over the world, we should keep some waterbenders just as healer slaves.

I looked at my now uninjured arm. It was not bent the wrong way or anything. Exactly how it should be. I tested it a little to see if it really was fully healed, and it seemed to be. I tested some fire bending and also made a few sparks. Still worked. Excellent.

Ty Lee:

I was sitting in a chair across the room from him when he awoke. He seemed groggy and slow. That is to be expected I guess, because he was just asleep. He looked at me and said:

"Who are you?" I was about to answer, but then he spoke. "Oh wait, you're that girl that was there before I fell asleep. And…aah! Are you here to finish the job? Get away from me!"

If I was ever confused by his actions before, this topped them all.

"First off, why don't you recognize me? Second, what do you mean 'finish the job'? Third, why are you acting so weird?"

"I don't know who you are, but I only remember the nice guy and that you tried to kill me. I'm afraid of you? But not because you tried to kill me…I think. That's all I know."

"You're afraid of me because I can chi block and you're especially weak to that. I can practically kill you in a matter of seconds." I put on a smile. "But I won't! You're fine now!"

"You just said you could kill me! And you tried to kill me before!"

I sighed. How many times was I going to have to apologize for that? "Ok, here's a question: do you know who you are?"

"Yeah I'm an earthbender soldier!"

"No, what's your name? And who told you that?"

"The nice guy told me! And my name is…I don't know…wait a second, what's your name?"

"Oh, come one Zias! Don't you recognize me?" I stood up and walked over the cot that he was sleeping on and sat down. I looked at him and gave a reassuring smile. "I'm your friend, remember?" He backed away, or at least as much as one could, sitting up on a cot.

"No, I don't know anything. You know what? I'm going back to the nice guy."

"No don't do that! Stay here!" but he just jumped out of the bed and ran out of the room. I ran after him, but quickly lost him in the maze.

I was about to report him missing, when Mai came around the corner.

"Azula wants us in the bridge now." I couldn't argue with Azula now, so I just followed her there. I hoped Zias was ok…

Zias:

I ran away from her. Fear had taken over, but I knew my feelings toward her were more dynamic and complicated. I didn't know why though; I should hate her. This was getting confusing, so I pushed all other thoughts away and concentrated on running. I only stopped when I heard a loud "HEY!" as I was running.

I checked to see that no firebenders were around and then to see where the "HEY!" had come from. There was a door to my left and a girl looking out from the little window on the door.

"Who are you?" I asked "Do you want to kill me too?" I was meeting so many new people, that it just became annoying more than anything.

"Have you forgotten me? It was only a few weeks since we decide that you shouldn't…stick around us. Come on, you rotten liar, help me out of here!"

"I still don't know you, but sure." _Is this necessary? Only do what is necessary._ I heard a voice in the back of my mind say. _Shut up; I'm going to help her._ I replied.

I looked around for anything to open the door with. It was made of metal and there was no key around to unlock it. Earthbending wasn't of much help, and neither was that…other bending that I could do. There were no objects to break the lock with. So I asked her: "Um…you wouldn't know a good way to open this door would you?"

"No. There's no water around to help me bend. Do something with your soundbending."

"Soundbending? Don't you mean earthbending?"

"No…you can only air, er, soundbend."

"No, you're wrong. He told me I could earthbend. Nevermind, I'll be right back." I walked away in search of a weapon and found a firebender guard on patrol. "Hey! Who are you!" he said. Instinct took over again and he was flat on his back, knocked out in a second. I smiled to myself and picked up his spear. I didn't even note the use of soundbending this time.

When I came back, she was still looking out the door. "I brought a spear, let me try something." I jammed the spear into the lock and twisted. I din't expect the lock to twist too, just to break. I kept damaging the lock and trying to get her free, but to no avail. I was very frusterated t this point and slammed my fist into the door. At this, the lock cracked. I let out a small giggle of glee and continued to break the lock until finally, _finally_, the girl was free.

"There you go." I said "Nice meeting you, but I have to go find the nice man now. Bye!"

"Wait!" she called out behind me, but I ignored her and continued running.

I made my way to the wall after losing myself in the labyrinth of the drill – thing and rejoined my fellow earthbender soldiers. They weren't happy to see me and one took me to the general who then took me to the nice guy.

"Hey it's you!" I said.

"Yes. Me. Sit down, we still need to know a lot about you." And with that, I sat.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar. End of Story. Feel free to steal my ideas though, if you wish. Just don't copy and paste.**

Zias:

Three years.

I was in there for three years. That was three years trapped in the earth, under Lake Laogai. That was three years of the after effects of interrogation and brainwashing. That was three years where my mind was fractured. I didn't know how long I was in there at first; my perception of time was thrown off from the brainwashing and the lack of Sun. But I gradually came to listen to the guards and I gradually pulled my mind back together. It had started only mere hours after seeing Ty Lee and the fire nation trying to drill through the wall protecting Ba Sing Se. Seeing her triggered something, I don't know what, but it definitely helped me. Gradually, memories flowed back to me as if grains of sand in an hourglass.

But one year was more than enough time to drain information out of me. In fact, they really only needed a few weeks at most. Once the leader of the Dai Li had taken all of my knowledge and personal information, he locked me up in a cell. I got three small meals a day, and that was about it. Only one Dai Li agent still remained here, but in secret. The rest of them split up and went into hiding.

The cave was thought to be destroyed by Toph, and it was, but only half of it was really unustable or unfixable. Soon after its 'destruction' the cave was partially fixed by earthbenders and Dai Li agents.

Three years ago, the Avatar defeated Fire Lord Ozai, ending the war.

Two years ago, I got my head on straight.

One year ago there was a flood and the prison was ruined. Most of the prisoners, and personnel drowned, but my cell was different. There were no air vents or openings. They opened a small hole into the room every hour to keep me from suffocating. But that stopped after the flood. I almost died, but one Dai Li agent came to my rescue after a week. Conserving my air was rough, but I used the little airbending I knew to help.

That Dai Li agent's name was Tirir. After he saved my life, we lived together in semi - exile in the ruined caverns, although I was no longer a prisoner. We both had our reasons for staying there. He stayed because he had nowhere else to go, and fear persecution, while I stayed because I still was not 100% coherent and still was not ready to face the world again. We became very good friends and I could see he was not a bad guy at heart.

What about the book? What about the information that was sucked out of me?

They were still at large and they were still my responsibility. I will get the book back, and I will kill Long Feng.

Tirir and I were eating a dinner that day.

"What do you think happened today, outside of this cave?" I said.

"Don't know. I could get Spare to contact our friend if you want…?" he said and took another bite of food. Spare was our pet sparrowkeep. He was a small green bird that we trained to go get information from one of Tirir's relatives living in Ba Sing Se. Spare would fly through the tunnels to the outside world. We always gave Spare a piece of paper with a request or something and then he returned with small packets of food or paper with information about major world happenings. For big deliveries, Tirir's relative sent bigger bird back. Spare always seemed to like Tirir, and stayed around him often.

"Nah, that's ok." I shook my hand as to dismiss the thought. "Hey, I was thinking. Maybe we should go after Long Feng. You know, venture outside."

Perhaps right then was not the best moment to suggest the idea because he was drinking from a glass of water. He spewed out what he was currently drinking and wiped his mouth from embarrassment. "What? I thought we agreed to stay here!"

"Oh come on." I said. "Did you really never want to see the Sun again? We have to leave eventually and I have some loose ends to tie up. I know you despise Long Feng."

"But I don't want to leave. We're fine here."

"Yeah, but come on. Please? This is of utmost importance."

"But you refuse to tell me anything. I know nothing about your past or that dang book he took. What's in it for me?"

"Long Feng. We'll hunt him together. And then you can finally have revenge on the person who destroyed the Dai Li and took your birthright."

Ty Lee:

Wow. Joining the Kyoshi Warriors had been perhaps the best thing I had ever done. It was very fun and I got to help a lot of people.

But something still bugged me, or rather someone. Everybody else had forgotten about him, but not me.

It was around dinner time and tonight we were staying on Kyoshi Island. Most of the girls were from the island, and thus had a place to stay but not me. So Suki arranged for me to stay in the guest room of her house for the time being. Right now I was staring out the window looking at the sky. Then came a knock at the door.

"May I come in?" it was Suki's voice.

"Yes." I responded but I kept my gaze out the window. I heard the door open behind me and Suki walk in.

"Dinner will be ready in half an hour." She said. "We would like you to join us."

"Sure." I said. "I'll be there in a minute." I kept looking out the window.

"Hey." She said. "Is there something wrong? You're always cheery and happy."

"No, I'm fine. I'll be with you in a minute."

"Ty Lee…you can tell me."

I turned to face her. "It's nothing, and besides it would just take away from my duties as a Kyoshi Warrior."

Concern was in her eyes and she sat down on the bed. "Ty Lee, you can always take some time off. Come on, tell me what it is." At this gesture of kindness I couldn't hold it back anymore. I put my face in my hands.

"He only ran out of that room, but it's like he ran out of my life. It's been three years. Three years he's been gone and he's probably…" I couldn't say it out loud, but I knew what I was going to say._ He's probably dead._

"Hold up. Who are we talking about?" She walked over to me and put her arm on my shoulder as if to say _it's ok_.

"I know you two broke up, but has Sokka mentioned a guy named Zias? Has anybody?"

"No, but the name somehow seems…familiar."

"I'm not sure how to explain it but there was once this boy I really liked."

"Zias?" She sat down in a chair next to me and turned the back around. She crossed her arms slightly on top of the back of the chair.

"Yeah. Anyway, he disappeared on the day that the fire nation tried to drill through the wall of Ba Sing Se." She nodded.

"And you want to find him?" I nodded.

"Yes, but I have no idea where he was or if he…even remembers me." I placed my head in my hands once more.

"Oh pfft. I'm sure he remembers you." I lifted my head and looked at her.

"No, I don't mean that he might've forgotten about me, I meant that he might not be coherent. You see, he was acting weird the day he left and he said he didn't know me. I don't think he was lying either." She didn't respond for a second and lower her gaze. Then she looked back up.

"I may be able to help you, but I have only a small theory. What Sokka did mention once was a cave where citizens of Ba Sing Se were brainwashed to forget about the war. If they could erasememories of the citizens…well, you can connect the dots. The practice was…discontinued for obvious reasons. I don't know anything else, but you could ask Sokka himself, if you want."

This was great news! Well not actually great, Zias was brainwashed, but at least I knew where he was!

"I would like to. Thank you!" I jumped up and gave her a hug.

"Hey a smile!" She said, obviously surprised. "Come on, let's go eat dinner and then you can take some time off to talk to Sokka and find this guy you like."

"Sure thing!" I gave another smile and followed her out of the room.

Toph Bei Fong:

"Sokka, why are you _really_ here?" I said as I turned to look at him. We had just finished eating dinner in my apartment in Ba Sing Se, where I had founded an earthbending/metalbending school.

"Toph, come on I just thought we could enjoy a dinner together as friends." He shrugged.

"That's not it. You've barely had time anymore to hang out with me. It's a little offensive and saddening actually. So why now? What now?" I put my hands on the table between us and tried my best to give him an apprehensive stare.

"True, true, and I apologize for that. I wish I could spend more time with my best friend, but politics, politics, politics. It takes forever to do anything, when the government is involved." I felt him stand up and clear the table.

"Hmmph. Are you here to ask me out or something?" I asked jokingly. But I will never tell him. Never.

"Well…Kind of." My heart did a mini flip and I was clearly surprised. "What? Didn't expect that did you?"

"What are you talking about?" I tried not to show excitement in my voice.

"Well…how do I say this…I want to get boomerang and space sword back." This shocked me even more than the previous statement.

"Why do you need me?"

"I'll have no idea where they'll be, and you metalbend. Hopefully you can track down space sword and then boomerang will be near it." I think he smiled.

"So…you want to use me as a tool. You want me to be a human…metal detector?" This was infuriating! First he teases me and then he says this. I couldn't believe him.

"Toph, are you happy teaching earthbending? Are you happy teaching metalbending? Be honest." This was the third and last thing he said tonight that caught me off guard.

"Well…No. Most of the students have no talent and the ones who do are brats." I felt him nod. Perhaps in triumph because I knew what was coming next.

"I thought so. You haven't been as happy lately. Think of this as a vacation. Us two out in the wilderness adventuring again. Just like old times." He did make a compeling case.

"You know what? Sure." Little did I know what 'adventures' would happen in the future.

Aang, the Avatar:

I wonder how everybody was doing? Being the Avatar was not easy. But at least Katara was still with me. Ironic. She was the first one I saw out of the iceberg and the last one with me.

"Aang?" she said. "Whatcha thinking about?" I was sitting on the saddle on Appa and feeding Momo some berries.

"Nothing." I said. "I was just thinking about all of our friends, actually. I kinda miss Sokka and Toph."

"Hey, I heard that Toph set up an earthbending school in Ba Sing Se and I know Sokka is there right now, for some political reason. Want to go visit them?"

"I don't know. I mean we're so busy; do you think we have the time to do so?" I turned to look at her as she climbed up onto the saddle with me. She sat down.

"We can take a small vacation if we want to. You've done enough for the world already, you know by defeating Ozai. I think so. And I also kinda miss Toph and Sokka." She leaned back onto the stuff we packed and put at the back of the saddle.

"You know what? I agree. Let's go."

Zias:

I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth to calm myself. The exit to the cave lay right in front of us. This exit was made by Tirir a while back and not part of the original cave system. It was small, because this was the exit for Spare, who was resting on Tirir's shoulder right now.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked. I didn't respond, but nodded. In through the nose, out through the mouth. My hands rose in front of me.

"No, you're not ready to do this." Tirir's hand was on my left arm. "I know you can earthbend, but for some odd reason, it's only a small boulder. Let me do this." I let him walk in front of me and stood by as he put his arms out in front of him like I had a few moments ago. Then, the arms moved on their own and the hole widened.

I walked forward and –

"Listen, I know about you're other bending abilities." The statement came from nowhere.

"Hmm. I suppose, you saw me practicing every night." He nodded. And then turned to face me.

"I can't continue this partnership if you keep these thing from me. What are you, another freaking Avatar or something?" His arms folded themselves accusingly.

"Ha ha ha ha!" Oh, this was amusing. "No, no, nothing like that. Hm. Well I'm part of a dead race, one could say. A failed…experiment." I continued walking out the exit.

"Wait." I stopped. "What race?"

"Shadowspirits. There were never more than five in the world, but our bending powers always consisted of one main element and then the rest, but at a much weaker level. It's great power, but the price is so great, that it's really a curse. Great power always seems to come with a great price. It's pretty cliché huh?" I walked into the daylight. Three years in a cave had adjusted my eyes drastically leaving me blind for a considerable time. Tirir seemed to be suffering the same way.

"What's a 'Shadowspirit?'" He asked.

"Same as a regular person except that the energy inside me is out of whack. It allows for me to bend all the elements, but I remain in constant pain. All day, every day, all over my body. Those born with this ability are seen to be abominations and are usually eradicated." I paused to look at Tirir's expression. It was blank, and he would not meet my eyes. "Hold on, maybe we should send a message to our friend to tell him to stop sending food." I stopped walking and searched myself for paper. I pulled out a few pieces and started writing.

_Dear Friend,_ it started.

_Dear Friend,_

_ You have been very kind to us in helping us live in the cave. But we must emerge eventually, and today is the day that Tirir and I do so._

_ So, no more food (but thanks for it) as we will be on our way. I promise to pay you back someday._

_Tirir & Zias._

It was a short note I suppose, and I hoped I wasn't being too rude. Spare flew over to me as if expecting this and I gave him the letter. Spare flew away and I knew he would catch up with us eventually.

Tirir closed the exit to the cave. "I still want more information." He said.

I laughed. "Oh course you do. Come here, I'll tell you."

Azula:

Prison. Imprisioned. In this nuthouse, before, but no longer. After I was so gracious as to help my brother Zuzu find our dear mother, he and his friends agreed that I was too much of a threat to be let loose. They thought that the nuthouse was too harsh so they put me in my old room, the one I had as a child growing up.

I was locked in here every day with nobody coming to rescue me.

BANG! "Uhh…" "Hey protect the prisoner—"

Or perhaps there was someone coming to get me. I smiled to myself; maybe there was someone who my mother hadn't corrupted.

The doors opened. "Princess Azula." The man said taking a step into the room. I was sitting on my bed and I met his gaze.

"Being saved by a peasant. I suppose my life couldn't have gotten any worse so who cares at this point. Let's see…mother has turned everyone against me, so tell me, did she turn you against me?"

* * *

_A/N: Hope that didn't seem _too_ abrupt. Like or no?_


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar. End of Story. Feel free to steal my ideas though, if you wish. Just don't copy and paste.**

Ty Lee:

"The Unagi shouldn't bother you if you don't enter the water yourself." Suki said, handing me my small duffle bag to carry supplies for the journey. She was dressed in the typical Kyoshi Warrior uniform, with the green dress and white and red make – up on her face. There were a few other warriors standing behind her to see me off too, all of them my friends. As for what to wear myself, Suki decided that plain clothes would work the best, instead of the uniform which she now wore. I had on an off white shirt and green trousers. We had laughed earlier about how it seemed like an outfit for a man to wear.

It was early in the morning. Even though Suki wanted me to stay a little longer, I had wanted to leave early to get to Ba Sing Se as quickly as possible.

I took my bag and looked down at it and then up at her. "Thanks." I said. "Thanks for everything." She smiled and watched as I climbed on a ferry to take me to the mainland.

"You ready miss?" I heard a voice say from the front of the ship. He must have been the one steering the ship. I nodded and gave a last goodbye to Suki and my friends. "Bye! Have fun!" I heard then say. They were waving as the boat took off. Soon, I couldn't see them through the mist over the water. The front of the boat looked appealing, and I didn't want to spend all my time looking back.

"Hey, I heard of you!" the captain said. He noticed me as I walked up the boat, and looked forward, in front of the boat. "You're that fire nation girl who joined the Kyoshi Warriors while in a fire nation jail. I love hearing about your adventures! Can you tell me about it?"

I laughed. "Sure." I said. I averted my gaze from the front of the boat and turned to look at him. "It all started when I ran away to the circus. I told Azula that my aura never felt pinker, but she didn't listen…" I continued to tell my story and he seemed entranced.

Zias:

I shaded my face with my hand and looked around me. Stupid streets with stupid rude people. It was hot, boggy and cramped. The worst part of it was we had no information on where Long Feng is. Tirir and I must have looked strange because we were wearing Dai Li agent uniforms, the only clothing found under Lake Laogai. Because there were seemingly two agents just walking around, people were pointing and murmuring, and Tirir was starting to notice. Tirir and I definitly looked like the real deal. They were saying things.

"Is the Dai Li back?" "Stupid lunatics." "I hope they don't arrest me."

"Maybe we should find a change of clothes." Tirir leaned in towards me and whispered.

"I agree." The Dai Li robe I was currently wearing was too large for me despite being the smallest size we found and not comfortable. My eye's scanned the street for shops that might sell clothes. It was to no avail, as there were none to be found. "There's nothing here of interest. Let's move on." I motioned with my hand for Tirir to follow. "Then once we get new clothes, we need to search around for information on Long Feng. At this point, anything will help." Tirir and I kept our heads down and tried to avoid attention. But instead of blending in, a police officer stepped in front of me forcing me to stop.

"Hey you! What are you doing? The Dai Li disbanded not too long ago. You wanna retake Ba Sing Se, don't you?" Apparently, the man was quick to make incorrect assumptions. I didn't meet his eyes.

"This is the only clothes we could find. If you let us through, we'll visit the nearest clothes shop, swap outfits and be on our way." I'll admit that even though it was the truth, it didn't sound very convincing. I kept my eyes down.

"Yeah, right. Maybe you can find some new clothes down at the police station, or –oh! Better yet, prison! You two are coming with me." I saw him reach to his back for handcuff and Tirir assumed a fighting stance. I held out my hand to stop him from killing this police officer.

"Wait." I said. "If we fight now we'll just prove his irrational case. Let's get arrested just this once, and then fight, only if we need to." He looked at me and then the man and then back at me and finally nodded. My hands and Tirir's hands were cuffed in iron handcuffs. We were led to the police station. The spectacle was humiliating. Instead of murmuring, now the bystanders were laughing at us and sometimes spitting in our direction.

Azula:

People were really amazing. Some of them blew up over the tiniest thing, while others came back even after stabbing them in the back. Long Feng was obviously the latter kind.

"What are you doing here? Did mother send you?" I said. "You look like you want to free me and not kill me, seeing as you haven't attacked yet and I'm virtually powerless." I held up both of my hands together to show him that I was handcuffed. He said nothing and walked over to me. KLANK. He had inserted the key and the handcuffs fell off. Then he took a step back and looked at me.

"I have a deal for you." He said, throwing the key over his shoulder. "You want revenge, and I want Ba Sing Se back. How about we travel there, and when I get what I own back, we can use the city's resources to take out the Avatar and every single one of his friends. Trust me, I want it too."

"What do you need me for?" I crossed my arms.

"One: You're a powerful bender. Two: the Dai Li have loyalty to you, even if they're disbanded. And three: We're both outcasts not only from our own nations but from the world. We had it all and lost it, because of them. The enemy of the enemy is my friend right?"

He has a weird mustache. "I'm guessing you're not tainted from my mother's influence. That's good enough for me. Let's go." We walked out of the room and I could see evidence of earthbending. A guard was leaning and lying against the wall at the same time, and he was the only on conscience.

I squatted to talk to him. "Hello. I'm leaving now and you can tell mother and Zuzu f—" The guard coughed. "— them."

Zias:

A wooden cage for me and Tirir. Peh, very degrading. I spat and Tirir noticed me. He turned to look at me sitting in the corner.

"Don't spit at me." There was annoyance in his voice.

"Sorry, but I wasn't spitting at you. I was spitting at the fact that were locked up like this." That was the wrong thing to say.

"THIS IS YOUR IDEA! YOU WANTED TO COME HERE, INSTEAD OF FIGHTING!" He was shouting now and he threw arms up and his face turned slightly red. I sighed and regretted saying anything, then looked down.

"Look, I'm sorry. But it was the best thing to do I guess. Don't be so cantankerous." I wrapped my hands around my knees. He calmed down a bit, but his temper wasn't completely under control yet.

"Cantankerous? I'm _cantankerous_?" He pointed at himself for emphasis, and then pointed at me. "First off, what does that even mean? Second, you're just flip – flopping now. And third, now we're stuck here with no hope from the devil. This was _not_ the best thing to do." He was seething now, because his anger came back. I stood up and raised my head to look him in the eye.

"I can see why you're angry, but if we stick together, we can get out of this." I said.

"Stick together? You're just a – a – a parasite! You survived only because of me and my friend. If not for me, you wouldn't have died three times over, by drowning or starving or something else. And By the way did you ever thank me for anything? Oh that's right, you thanked me by keeping facts about you secret from me!" I took a step back, and I could feel the shock and hurt in my eyes showing. A response was about to surface when a police officer came up to our cell/cage.

"If you two are done arguing, we have some news for you. Because Dai Li agents became official citizens of the Fire Nation when they followed Azula, You two will be deported, and locked up into prison with the rest of them." He sneered and unlocked the door to our cage to lead us out.

"Hey what about a trial? We're not Dai Li!" I said, refusing to move from my spot.

"You don't get a trail. That's not how it works in the Fire Nation anymore. Besides you already have committed crimes against humanity, because you're Dai Li." He responded.

"Told you we should've stayed and fought." Tirir said.

They put us on a carriage led by two Ostrich Horses, and driven by an Earth Kingdom soldier. I could see and hear the walls of Ba Sing Se being opened just for us. It wasn't a reassuring sight.

Aang, the Avatar:

Katara and I spent the next day flying to Ba Sing Se. She was excited to see Sokka after being away from him for a while. I was happy too, to get the gang mostly back together. The city was still impressive even after the war. Appa was tired when we got there, so we let him graze and rest next to Toph's apartment.

But Toph wasn't there. And she wasn't teaching at the earthbending academy either. So we gave up looking for her and started a search for Sokka in the hopes that she was with him. And we didn't find him either.

So we did the only logical thing to do; we crashed in Toph's apartment to wait until they come back.

Ty Lee:

The first place I thought to go was Ba Sing Se because that where Sokka should be and where I saw him last. It wasn't easy travel, on foot, but I got there within a relatively short time, of six days. It was just as I remembered it, big walls, powerful earthbenders, and more. The guards agreed to let me in after verifying the passport Suki gave me. They also eyed my katana and fans with curiosity. I often forget how harmless I seemed and really was, or tried to be.

"Thanks." I said with a little wave and a smile. The guard just smiled back and then said:

"You're lucky, we usually only open the gates per schedule. You would have had to wait, but we're transporting a few criminals right now, so we'll let you and other patrons in now, as they're opening the gate." The other people around me heard this and rejoice a little. I did too internally, but was also mildly curious about the criminals.

But before I had time to ask the guard for any details, the gates opened and out came a carriage lead by two ostrich - horses. There was what appeared to be a cop driving it. Made sense, I suppose. As the carriage rode by and the other people shuffled into Ba Sing Se, I tried to look inside and saw a familiar green uniform. I gasped.

"Best not get involved with them, miss. They were going to try to take back control of Ba Sing Se. You should just move along." He held out his arms pointing me in toward the inner gates of Ba Sing Se. I followed his arms and looked back at the cart.

"HEMMPH!" I heard some noises come from inside the cart but they were muffled, and indistinct. Strange, it seems familiar somehow. I disregarded it and walked into Ba Sing Se.

Zias:

The gates were open. I was going to a fire nation prison. I had endangered Tirir and me. They had gagged and bound us, for gods know what reason. I looked outside the carriage and for the first time in a while I thought of home. My family must miss me, my little brother especially. Maybe my father went looking for me. Then I had another thought.

_I might never see them again._

No, I need to tell them I was okay. If I didn't they would only be another thing that I would add to the list of 'things that made me guilty'. The list was already too long.

Tirir looked at me and I lowered my head. I was sorry for dragging him into this. _Great another thing I feel guilty for._

I saw something familiar out the window. _Wait. No…_someone_ familiar. Ty Lee!_

"HEMMPH!" I shouted. I remembered that they had gagged us. She was out there. _She was out there!_

I had to get her to notice me somehow, but I was useless. What could I do? I struggled against the ropes that held my hands. I just needed to get free for a few seconds. Then she would notice me and help me out and everything would be ok and…

Tirir noticed this and rolled his eyes. I glared at him. To think he was just a scared Dai Li soldier a few years ago. To think I was just a scared Earth Kingdom soldier a few years ago, before the whole mess of brainwashing and the Fire Nation. My past I remembered well: my real name Sensu, Lee my younger brother, Gansu my father and Sela my mother. I will see them again, but now I need to get out this and find Long Feng. He had taken something from me, and I needed it back. I had to absolve all my guilt, and make up for what I've done.

I have to restore my honor.


End file.
